Modified waste charging announced

The Environment Bureau announced modifications to the Government’s proposed charging scheme for municipal solid waste today.

The changes will expand the use of pre-paid designated garbage bags, and will scrap the transitional arrangement of bin counting.

Secretary for the Environment KS Wong said since the announcement of the arrangements in March, more than 60 engagement sessions have been held to gauge the views of stakeholders and the public.

"Over the past few months, we have been looking into the feasibility of modifying certain aspects to the proposed arrangements, which would on one hand help us respond to the comments received while enabling the charging regime to achieve the polluter-pays principle to a greater extent on the other," he said.

Under the revised rules, the use of pre-paid designated garbage bags will be expanded to cover not only waste producers using the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department’s waste collection service, but also most residential and commercial buildings whose rubbish is collected by private waste collectors using collection vehicles with rear compactors.

For waste that is bulky or irregular in shape such as mattresses, sofas, large-sized metalware and wood panels, they will continue to be subject to a gate fee as they cannot fit in the garbage bags.

The Government has proposed to scrap the transitional arrangement of bin counting, which is charging on a per building basis based on the number of rubbish bins collected.

It has also offered to provide a monthly subsidy of $10 per person for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme recipients to lessen their financial burden after the charging scheme begins.

"It remains our target to introduce the Amendment Bill into the Legislative Council by the end of 2017. Assuming that scrutiny of the bill would take one year, MSW charging could be implemented towards the end of 2019 at the earliest," Mr Wong added.